Brainstorming about history, politics, literature, religion, and other topics from a 'gypsy' scholar on a wagon hitched to a star.

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Chance Encounter with Student

Victorious Student in Accidental Encounter

I finished my Monday class at 3:15 in the afternoon and hurried to the subway, where I -- to my great astonishment, for I walk fast -- saw a student from that same class board the same car of the same train as I had just boarded.

She was deep in conversation on her smartphone and didn't notice me, so I left her to her business until my transfer station was coming up, when I waved my hand before her face and got her attention. She looked up and appeared greatly surprised to see me.

A few moments later, she was standing beside me, and we both realized that we were transferring at the same station, Wangsimni. Even more surprising, we were to board the same next train, the one on the Jungang line!

To celebrate all these coincidences, my student took a selfie of the two of us, as you see above, now at Wangsimni Station, but just shortly before our train arrived, and we boarded it for the final stretch.

I soon got off at Mangu Station, leaving her on the Jungang line and homeward bound . . .

4 Comments:

Speaking of such coincidences, not more than a year ago a young Korean woman approached me in a New York City subway station asking for help with the subway map. We were going in the same direction, so we got on the next train together, where we had a brief chat. She turned out to be one of your students.

About Me

I am a professor at Ewha Womans University, where I teach composition, research writing, and cultural issues, including the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history.
My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism.
I also work as one-half of a translating team with my wife, and our most significant translation is Yi Kwang-su's novel The Soil, which was funded by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested.
I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries.
Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."